____________________________________________________________________________________________

4. THEORY OF ERRORS

4.1 Introduction
Surveying deals with the measurement of distance and angles. The true value of
such quantities is never known. The true value of a quantity is never known. The
true value of a quantity is a value, which is absolutely free from all types of errors.
The true value cannot be determined because some errors always creep in the
measured quantities. The errors occur because the instrument cannot be absolutely
perfect. Moreover, a surveyor cannot take the observations correctly because of
human limitations. Further, a change in climatic conditions also limits the accuracy
of the measurement.

Sources of errors
Depending up on the source, the errors can be classified under the following three
types:
1. Instrumental errors
2. Personal errors
3. Natural errors

1. Instrumental errors: The instrumental errors occur due to imperfection of the

instrument used. For example if the tape used in measuring the distance is actually
29.95m long whereas the nominal length is 30m, the instrumental error occurs
because of the imperfect tape.

2. Personal error: The personal errors occur due to human limitations, such as
sense of sight and touch. For example when measuring the distance with a tape
marked in centimeters, one cannot estimate the fractional part in millimeters
exactly.

3. Natural errors: The natural errors are caused by changes in natural phenomena,
such as temperatures, winds, humidity, refraction, and magnetic field. For example
if a tape has been calibrated at 20c, but the field temperature is 30 c there will
be a natural error due to temperature variation.

Types of errors
The errors in surveying can be broadly classified into the following three types.

1. Mistakes or gross errors or blunders

2. Systematic or cumulative errors

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 1
RVU Surveying Department Survey Adjustment handout 1
3. Accidental or random errors

1. Mistakes: Mistakes occur in measurements due to carelessness inattention,

inexperience or poor judgment of the surveyor. For example, if the surveyor reads
13m on a tape as 31m, it would be a mistake.

2. Systematic errors: Systematic errors follow some well-defined mathematical

or physical law or system. The magnitude and the sign of the systematic errors can
be determined and a suitable correction can be applied to the measured quantity. A
systematic error will always have the same sign and magnitude under the same
conditions. For example, if a 30m steel tape has been standardized at a
temperature of 20c but the field temperature is 30c the tape will be about
3.5mm too long. This means when the measured distance is 30m, the actual (real)
distance is 30.0035m. There is a systematic error of -3.5mm in every 30m-tape
length.
The systematic errors are cumulative in nature. For example, if in the above case
the total distance is 300m (i.e. 10 tape lengths) the total systematic error will be
35mm for a field temperature of 30c.

3. Accidental errors: Accidental errors are random in nature. The errors do not
follow any fixed pattern or law. These errors can be positive or negative. These
errors tend to cancel themselves in a series of measurements, and are, therefore,
also called compensating errors. Accidental errors occur due to:

1) imperfection in the instruments

2) human limitation or
3) change in atmospheric conditions

Errors, which remain in the measured quantities after mistakes and systematic
errors have been eliminated or corrected, are generally the accidental errors.

Definitions
The following definitions should be clearly understood.
1. Standard deviation. The standard deviation is defined as:

When v - variation = Residuals = Measured value - Mean value

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 2
RVU Surveying Department Survey Adjustment handout 1
n = number of observation

2. Variance: Variance is the square of the standard deviation

3. Different percentage errors: different percentage errors are as follow:

a) 50% error (E50) = 0.6745 

b) 68.3% error (E68.3) =  
c) 90% error (E90) = 1.645
d) 95% error (E95) = 1.96
e) 95.5% error (E95.5) =  2
f) 99.7% error (E99.7) =  3
g) 99.9% error (E99.9) =  3.29

4. Most probable error

Most probable error =

5. Most probable error of the mean

6. Standard error

7. Standard error of the mean

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 3
RVU Surveying Department Survey Adjustment handout 1
8. Maximum error: In surveying generally 99.9% error (E99.9) is taken as the
maximum error.

Maximum error =  3.29

The maximum error is often used to separate mistakes from the random errors. If
any measurement deviates from the mean by more than  3.29, it is considered as
a mistake and that measurement is rejected.

Relative Precision
The relative precision is usually expressed as a ratio of standard error of the mean
(m) to the mean value (M) of the quantity.

Relative precision =

It is usually expressed with numerator as unit.

Relative precision =

Generally, the denominator is rounded off.

__________________________________________________________________________________________ 4
RVU Surveying Department Survey Adjustment handout 1